Our Breastfeeding Journey: the current chapter, 8/15

Our Breastfeeding Journey: the current chapter, 8/15

So, we’ve come a long way through nipple shields, tongue tie, syringes, bottles, timers, waking constantly throughout the night, and lots and lots of pumping. Okay, so there’s still a lot of that last one going on.

Last week sometime, Declan had a hiccup in his seemingly magical progress in nursing, and started pulling off and screaming a few minutes into every feeding. He, like the rest of us, was and is adjusting to the new schedule, and we still haven’t quite figured out nap logistics where I’m not holding him and he’s not being bothered by Lexi, so he’s been very overtired. That might explain this behavior, but it still wasn’t fun. Add to that that he had also decided he didn’t want to take a bottle anymore, and you have a mama who started to freak out a little about whether he’s getting enough milk.

I decided that all I can really do is offer milk at regular intervals and respond to any requests between. I can’t make him eat, and trying to is only going to make it worse. So I fed him, I pumped, and I had Scott offer him bottles, most of which he rejected. It’s Tuesday noon, and he hasn’t taken a bottle since Saturday around this time.

On one hand, this is what I really want-no more bottles, and ultimately no more pumping. At the moment, though, it’s making me a little nervous. He’s at least mostly stopped the freaking out while eating, and I feel like he’s eating pretty efficiently overall. I’m feeding him at least every 2-3h, and more often when he seems interested and pumping as often as I’m able after. I’m also doing all I can to get him naps, though it may take awhile to get that sorted. He has plenty of diapers and is a happy camper so I’m going to work with him and not worry. .modt of all, I’m not going to fall back into the obsession about it with weight checks and timing and stress. It may take a little time, but we will figure this out together and it’s gonna be great, because we will be exactly where I want once we do!